Atlanta Woman Says She Had 13-Year Extramarital Affair With Cain

A Fox5 television website displays a photograph of a Georgia businesswoman, allegedly Ginger White, in an office in Washington, DC. Photographer: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- An Atlanta woman says she had a 13-year extramarital affair with Herman Cain, a claim the
Republican presidential contender denies and says won’t drive
him from the race for his party’s nomination.

Ginger White said in an interview broadcast yesterday on
Fox 5 in Atlanta that Cain treated her to lavish meals and stays
at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in the city’s Buckhead district,
during an on-and-off affair that began when the two met in
Louisville, Kentucky, in the late 1990s and ended only eight
months ago.

“It wasn’t complicated, and I was aware that he was
married, and I was also aware that I was involved in a very
inappropriate situation, relationship,” White said in the
television interview.

Cain “made it very intriguing,” she said. “It was fun.
It was something that took me away from my sort of humdrum life
at the time, and it was exciting.”

White said that, while she had been reluctant to reveal the
affair, Cain’s indignant denials of recent sexual harassment
allegations against him by four other women persuaded her to go
public.

“It bothered me that they were being demonized,” White
said of the women -- two of whom have identified themselves and
two of whom remain anonymous. They alleged sexual advances
during Cain’s stint as head of the Washington-based National
Restaurant Association. “They were being treated as if they
were automatically lying and the burden of proof was on them.”

Cain’s Response

Cain, 65, appeared on CNN yesterday to deny White’s
accusation before the interview aired, saying that, though he
knew her, he hadn’t had a sexual relationship with her and
didn’t intend to drop out of the presidential race based on her
story.

His Atlanta-based attorney, Lin Wood, said in a statement
to Fox 5 that White’s account “appears to be an accusation of
private, alleged consensual conduct between adults -- a subject
matter which is not a proper subject of inquiry by the media or
the public.”

Cain’s campaign issued a statement after the station’s
report that said: “Detractors are trying once again to derail
the Cain Train with more accusations of past events that never
happened. The Cain campaign is not surprised that another female
accuser has come forward due to the fact that earlier
allegations were unable to force Herman Cain to drop his
presidential bid to renew America.”

‘Dirty Politics’

Cain, a former Godfather’s Pizza chief executive, said in
the statement that Americans are “tired of dirty politics and
smear tactics as evident of their tremendous outpouring of
support for me, my family and my campaign this past month.”

He said he wouldn’t “fight false claims as it is not what
America needs or wants.”

Cain told CNN his relationship with White was as “a
friend, and trying to help a friend because of not having a
job.”

He said he was “more worried that this is going to hurt my
wife and my family” than he was about the story’s possible
effect on his presidential prospects.

“I can’t control people who are going to make a decision
based on accusations,” Cain said.

Once vying for front-runner status in the Republican race,
Cain slipped to third place in a national poll released last
week by Quinnipiac University. The poll showed Cain with 14
percent of the vote, trailing former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Support Slipping

Support for Cain has been eroding over the last month since
the sexual harassment allegations surfaced.

Cain has been married to his wife, Gloria, for 43 years. In
an interview with Fox News after the harassment charges emerged
about a month ago, Gloria Cain said she didn’t think her husband
was capable of such behavior.

“I seriously, in my soul, don’t think he’s that type of
person,” Cain said. While saying “there have been troubles”
in the Cains’ marriage, she added, “we have loved each other
for 43 years.”

White, who gave Fox 5 evidence of extensive correspondence
with Cain including 61 text messages to her cellular telephone
during four different months, said Cain never harassed or
mistreated her and behaved much like he comes across on the
campaign trail.

‘Playful’ Style

Cain was “very much confident, very much sure of himself,
very arrogant in a playful -- sometimes -- kind of way, very
‘Herman Cain loves Herman Cain,’” White said.

White settled a sexual harassment claim against a former
employer in 2001 and has had financial and legal troubles,
including a bankruptcy filing, several eviction notices and a
libel conviction, Fox 5 reported. Still, she said she had no
reason to make up a false accusation against Cain.

“It would make no sense for me to come out with these
allegations against Herman if it absolutely wasn’t true,” White
said. “I wanted to give my side before it was thrown out there
and made out to be something filthy. Some people will look at
this and say that is exactly what it is. I’m sorry for that.”

Cain said he discussed the most recent accusations with his
wife and his conscience was clear. “Her reaction was very
similar to mine: ‘Here we go again,’” Cain told CNN. He said he
planned a “nice steak dinner” last night, because he has
“done nothing wrong.”

Gingrich, appearing on CNN yesterday, said the latest
allegation is “something that Mr. Cain will have to settle with
the country.”